Colchester Student / Dominion refurb

[Admin]

I guess I was the lucky one who answered the craigslist ad first and this Colchester Student / Dominion lathe followed me home, all the way from Surrey .. I'll just say right here, that buying a heavy piece of machinery (1400 lbs) and haul it back to the island, is not the greatest thing to do and also not cheap (ferry, trailer, etc.) but that part is behind us and she's safe and sound in the shed .. The machine used to be part of a either trade school or high school but has been in a single machinist's possession for the last 30 years and mainly used to produce aluminum parts for the Children's hospital in Vancouver. Tom (said machinist) finally decided to retire at age 90 and sell of some of his machines .. The deal included the a four jaw chuck, two 3 jaw chucks (one hard one soft jaws), a faceplate, Dickson toolpost with 8 tool holders, a home-made collet chuck / drawbar for 5C collets (1.5in spindle bore!), steady and fixed rests, tail stock, MT3 turret adapter for tail stock and a bunch of smaller diddlybops (carriage stop etc.) .. She's currently powered by a 3HP single phase 220V motor but I've already purchased a 5HP 3ph Baldor motor and a VFD to get her back to her original self .. (single phase models were shipped with a Matrix clutch - motor stays on, spindle engages and disengages with clutch whereas 3 phase models have the on / off switch with insta-reverse and a drum brake --- mine is the drum brake version and hence should be 3phase ... clutch and brake can't be installed at the same time) ..

This is the largest tool I have in my shop to date (we all know there will be more in the future) and it's a rather daunting process to refurb a machine that has 60 years of grime on her .. where do you stop is the main question? .. so I've taken to the degreaser and plastic scrapers and am tackling sort of one piece at a time .. I've decided not to go down the bondo and wetsanding / repainting route just yet, I'd like to make some chips first .. but it'll be a project for the future .. for now I started with the light of all places .. and holy smokes, they don't make them like this anymore .. check this out:

All of the above little pieces make up the linkages that connect the "arms" (hidden amongst my screw drivers) .. I've never seen anything so over-engineered but once leaned up and lubed, it works flawlessly .. added a 5000K 500 Lumen "DAYLIGHT" LED bulb and we're off to a good start ..

By the way, I purposefully kept the patina on the lamp shade (including dings and dents) .. although I buffed and re-painted all the parts on the arms, I felt it was wrong to delete its entire history so for now the scars stay ...

[Admin]

and then it was on to the tail stock .. the previous owner fabricated a really nice quill actuator lever handle .. you can see part of the mechanism in the first picture .. I've taken this off for now and replaced it with the original handwheel .. I'm sure this lever set up will come in handy when I get to set up and use the turret attachment at some point ..

cleaned and oiled, waiting for action ..

 

[Chris Lichty]

Looks like you found a great looking lathe! Keep us updated on the cleanup.

[Shawn Green]

Good score. I always enjoy moving machines around for some strange reason. Maybe its just the excitement of getting new toys!

[Admin]

 The lathe is coming along nicely .. base is painted, bed is painted, saddle and apron are done and back on the machine, tailstock, steady and travel rests done .. working on the QCGB (waiting on a particular circlip to arrive in the mail) and then it's on to the headstock .. I haven't even touched that one yet  .. seeing as the weather is going downhill I may miss my painting (outside) window for this year .. the lazy guy in me wants to just put it back on and run it .. but the perfectionist in me says no way jose .. so, onwards and upwards!

[Rory Brown]

Wow! Nice job Matt.  It looks brand new.

[David Wrate]

Yup, what Rory said! 

Looks amazing!

David

On Sep 13, 2020, at 8:20 AM, Rory Brown <roryn...@telus.net> wrote:

Wow! Nice job Matt.  It looks brand new.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Victoria Hobby Machinists" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to victoria-hobby-mac...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/victoria-hobby-machinists/4a610325-d8a8-4885-be65-b19d39a79b99n%40googlegroups.com.

[Admin]

Hey guys,

I've been asked what paint I use and how I'm going about it .. Let me start out by saying that I would NOT do it the same ever again ... I think I made big mistakes that I'll be paying for in the years to come .. hopefully not weeks .. I can handle years .. I suppose there are two ways of doing this: a) buy into paint system, buy expensive, specific surface prep, primer, paint and topcoats and be set for life OR, the way I did it, sh**mix anything and eveyrthing you can get your hands on and hope for the best ..

So here's what I used:

1) self etching primer from Homedepot

2) precatalyzed water based epoxy grey from Sherwin Williams

3) SprayMax Gloss

I tried a couple of different primers and topcoats first that didn't bond and I got separation ... nothing better than doing all the work and it just comes off in sheets .. The epoxy paint is supposedly super tough but I can already tell there is a difference between house hold super tough for hallways in schools for example, and the tough environment of a machine shop .. the spraymax 2K gloss was supposedly going to put a very tough topcoat on it all that keeps it all together and makes it resilient to chemicals etc .. and I guess that would work except for the fact that the Student runs on a type of hydraulic oil that took the high gloss out of the gloss instantly .. so I'm assuming they're not chemically compatible ..

So, in a long-winded way I guess I'm saying is I paid a LOT of money for rattle cans (self etching primer goes for around 13.-/can .. need probably about 5) a gallon of expoy Sherwin .. ~50$ and about 10x 2K gloss at 28$ each .. so, add all that up plus the countless hours of sanding, sand blasting, soda blasting, scraping and a bit of bondo-ing ... I think there would be a better way ... for next time (aka. the Myford ML7 project) I'll be going to an automotive paint shop .. I'll be buying one product line from surface prep to topcoat and I'll be following their instructions to the T .. I'll definitely go towards a 2K product too for hardness .. I can take the safety-precautions laid out in the MSDS sheets ..

Hope this helps to clarify a bit ..

ps: the yellow and red pieces are a tremclad spraybomb .... goes on nice and has a nice gloss to it .. I doused it in the hydraulic oil and it didn't lose its sheen ... so ... just sayin .. maybe there'd be a real simple way of doing things with HD products too ...

[Rory Brown]

Hey Matt, your end result is beautiful and worth the effort.  I have to shamefully admit that I go the lazy man's route of cleaning, scuffing and wire brushing the surfaces and then spraying with engine enamel from Canadian Tire.  Also discovered that pre-heating the surface with a blow torch helps drive any moisture out and improves adhesion.

[Admin]

Hey thanks Rory .. I like the idea with the pre-heat .. I may try that on the headstock .... engine enamel eh? I'll have to look into that line of spraybombs ...

[Admin]

hi all, I'm about to put the headstock back on the bed and was wondering what you guys put on the ways to protect them? Simply way oil or some type of grease? There is no movement between the headstock and the ways (hopefully not that is) once fully adjusted but there was quite a bit of pitting when I took it apart .. any tips and tricks?

thanks!

Mat

[David Wrate]

Were it me I wouldld definitely put a thin layer of way oil under the headstock before replacing it. 

David

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Victoria Hobby Machinists" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to victoria-hobby-mac...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/victoria-hobby-machinists/9a5e145b-9c14-4c1d-960d-a1aa882e1cbbn%40googlegroups.com.

[Larry Maas]

You might get some response from Tony at the UK machinery site.  I'm a fan of NeverSeize or white lithium grease, very thin layer whatever is used. Maybe Hypoid gear oil? 

[Alex Kunadze]

If you ask Robin Renzetti he'd probably say blue moly. He puts that stuff on everything.

Cheers,

Alex.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Victoria Hobby Machinists" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to victoria-hobby-mac...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/victoria-hobby-machinists/d8ba33e3-3340-45c6-bffb-9601477995c8n%40googlegroups.com.

[Admin]

hehe .. alright, thanks for all the different options ;) I think I'll go with simplest and use way oil .. see how that goes .. :)

[Admin]

and she's more or less done .. managed to take a 130 thou per side cut with a cheap 1/2 inch chinese carbide tool .. more than impressed ;)

[Ian Paterson]

Wow, that looks absolutely gorgeous! Congratulations on a job well done. Your chip tray is filthy though. I would clean that up right away if I were you ;-)

[David Wrate]

Wow, I’m am very impressed. Looks fantastic!

David

On Oct 11, 2020, at 7:17 AM, Admin <mathis....@gmail.com> wrote:



and she's more or less done .. managed to take a 130 thou per side cut with a cheap 1/2 inch chinese carbide tool .. more than impressed ;)

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/victoria-hobby-machinists/187d2d96-fb0d-4cc2-b948-548114cc3ff2n%40googlegroups.com.

<IMG_1061.JPG>

[Rory Brown]

That is just too nice!  And I agree, your chip tray is filthy

[Larry Maas]

Nice work Mat, lathe looks great. What speed / feed combo did you use for .130 test cut? Cutter was brazed carbide? 

[Admin]

haha, i'll get right on that .. it bugged me too :D

[Admin]

Hey Larry, I ran it at 504 RPM and hand fed the cut .. the cutter's a carbide insert .. just a 1/2inch set I had ordered for my ML7 from banggood.com